My little work car
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Some like these with the Gino front and all sorts of add on. But your white L700 is, in my mind, perfect. You did say “work” car, but it could be a quick little work car that would go very much unnoticed and be a heap of fun to drive.
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It’s such fun to drive. Kind of reminds me of a Mini 850 I had many moons ago. I am very surprised at the turn of speed. I will probably just keep it stock. Some little things need doing like passenger sun visor and driver’s mirror.
I am just reading all of the forum and the old forum at the moment to gain some insight and knowledge about the marque. Great work you guys have done over the years!
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I too would keep it fairly stock and reap the rewards of having such a great thing to drive. Everyone may get tired of this mantra of mine but on yours I’d look at upping the rear spring rate (std height) and or slowing the rear damping down. This is the single thing that makes the biggest change and will make it an even greater joy to drive as it will feel like it turns by thought waves. A tiny bit of neg camber would also help after that. Drive it as it is, enjoy it and benefit from perhaps the best value transport on the planet. You have done very well with your purchase.
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Well I have had the car for a week or so now. Changed oil and had a radio installed. The installer was amazed at the condition and said the speakers were brand new! Seems that this model came with aerial and fitted speakers. I am so impressed with how much fuel I don’t put in the thing. Just ticked over 50000ks. Done 400 ks and just over half a tank.
My right front mirror will be replaced with one sourced from a helpful wrecker in Braeside. @Mr_Gormsby I wonder how to change the spring rate or to drop the rear. If anyone can point me in the direction of which rear shocks I need I would be grateful.
A couple of mates laughed out loud when they saw me roll up in it. Little do they know how much I laugh when I am behind the wheel.
My daughter has suggested I “hot it up Dad”, however if I do I might just go for a rear drop and maybe a set of 12" fatties. I do like the Jasma ram air intake shown on one of the posts on the forum. I have searched all over but I think it must be discontinued.
Anyway once again thank you to all that have made this forum a mine of information.
Dave
Not sure about the dampers. Take one out and go compare to new retail/trade product, compare the mounting points to other cars or someone here may know. They need to have 1/4 to 1/3 less droop.
Springs. You can go custom (avoid progressive rate in the back). I had a look under an L700 today. Just a couple of weeks ago I threw away a L700 beam axle, if I had it here still I’d measure the spring base diameter. I have a hunch though that the spring ID needs to be more than 2.5". Or i prefer to change the base seats and use coilover type coils as it is easier and cheaper to get the “right” rate and length. But that involves removing the spot welded on the chassis locators and similar type thing needs to be done on the beam axle.
Use an online spring calculator, measure your springs for the input variables and calc your rate. Get some hard wood blocks of timber that will just fit though the coil space on the back and shove them through one open section of winding such that this part of the coil can’t compress. I put some holes in too with massive zip ties so they won’t fall out. Do a short test drive and gauge if better. Recalculate the rate less one full coil. Keep adding chocks from the bottom up till you are happy.
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Ah blocks of wood… I do recall doing this for some reason years ago.
Thank you for your suggestions Mr_Gormsby
Pretty please share if you find some
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Avoid progressive rate, esp in the rear. Progressive rate using winding spacing are not a performance/handling item. Progressive rate using taper wire springs is the only way to go progressive, but expensive. Keep std rate in front, increasing it will only make it understeer.
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The spaced wire progressive, esp in the rear, would need the “soft” part to coil bind in corners before the “hard” part initiated weight transfer to the front (in corners weight transfer occurs across diagonals). It would be far from “sharp” with the springs in the video and could be unpredictable. MCM is more about “cool” looks and just doing “a” mod as opposed to pragmatic modifications.
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if you’re looking to lower a bit and firm up slightly, my fave so far is for sure the RSR versions
they’re not heavy at all [front 3.37 Kg / rear 2.64 Kg] and work well with stock shocks
they say 35mm drop but I haven’t seen that much
I think your guys local “import monster” does them
otherwise you can get online reas easily - orr we have a local cat who does them too
normally circa $300
http://www.importmonster.com.au/shop/product_info.php?products_id=1942&osCsid=39cdea962540a4bf21518100bcdb3
people seem to say they’re limited. but they’re mass produced and available all over the show, so don’t get sucked in too much 
ive had them in my L700s and think they’re great
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So added a strut bar. Makes it feel a bit better in corners.
I see in one of the threads here that a Copen rear sway bar might be beneficial.
Will any year model fit? The Handi is a 1999 model.
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And it took a little while to sort the sticker…
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Hyundai shocks???
It’s common practice for l2, l5 and l6 to use shocks meant for hyundai excel x2 on the rear. They are shorter and stiffer.
interesting - never seen it before here
i’ve only tried copen or models made for the L7